Buzz in the air as Patriots kicks off CPL T20 in the Federation

The Federation continues to see rebounding benefits from hosting a local Caribbean Premier League T20 franchise according to Richards Berridge, Chief Operations Officer of the St. Kitts Patriots.

With the start of the 4th edition of the league still two months away, statistics show that the economy and the people of St. Kitts and Nevis have benefited tremendously from the acquisition of the Patriots last year.

On Wednesday (Apr. 13) at a press conference at the Yu Lounge to bowl off the franchise’s marketing and media campaign for the 2016 tournament, Berridge explained that the 2015 tournament brought an increase in revenue to the local economy over 2014.

According to the CPL report last year, “the total direct impact of the 2015 CPL T20 Tournament on the St. Kitts and Nevis economy was US$11.3 million, an increase of 33 percent from 2014. The tremendous tourism and destination marketing that takes place every time our venue is televised around the globe was valued at US$5.3 million in 2015.”

Since acquiring rights to host matches in the tournament in 2014, the Federation had seen significant revenue being pumped back into the economy.

In 2014, the Government has reported over US$20 million returns were seen in the economy from the hosting of 10 matches in the league.

Warner Park Cricket Stadium will host only four matches in this year’s tournament; a significant decrease from the two previous year’s that the tournament was played in the Federation.

In 2014, St. Kitts-Nevis hosted 10 matches, while last year nine matches were played locally.

Berridge noted that the patriots broadcast of matches has brought a number of new tourism interests to the Federation.

Against that backdrop, the government and the organizers of the annual Musical Festival are using the CPL tournament as mean to push advertising of the event this year.

The former performance analyst said it is using the slogan come music stay for cricket because it is still relevant this year.

Meanwhile, action in the St. Kitts and Nevis leg of the tournament bowls off June 30 with an encounter between the Patriots and the Warriors; before the home side battles the Jamaica Tallawahs on July 2, the St. Lucia Zouks the following day and closes out the tournament two days later with a clash against Barbados Tridents at 7 p.m.

“It is my pleasure to confirm to the media that plans are well underway for the upcoming second season,” Berridge told the media. “There are a number of new marketing initiatives which will be executed between now and our first match scheduled against the Guyana Amazon Warriors June 30 June at the Warner Park Cricket Stadium.”

Tickets are now available for several sections of the stadium through online purchase at SKN Patriots.com, while the others will be made public soon.

According to Berridge, “team investors are confident we will do very well in the upcoming season and our team will bring great pride to the people of our beloved Federation.”

Carlos Brawithe, Lendell Simmons, Samuel Badree and Evan Lewis, are looking forward to participating in the tournament this year for the Patriots.

Two representatives from the Federation have been selected for the franchise, Kieran Powell, who recently made his return to regional Cricket and Jeremiah Louis.